Ask The Experts

I don\'t know.  They could have taken a shot or two in the year leading up to the BC, no?  They didn\'t have to go all out & run in all of them like Rachel did.  If we\'re at the point in horse racing where you have to save it all for one day, then this game is DOA going forward.  They are race horses afterall.  Probably a good idea to race them.  Especially if they\'re capable of running like she is....

Quality Road works well for Derby
By David Grening
ELMONT, N.Y. - Quality Road continues to show no ill effects from a quarter crack in his right hind foot as he worked a strong six furlongs in 1:12.03 Friday morning over the Belmont Park training track in preparation for a start in the May 2 Kentucky Derby.

Working at 9:30 a.m, following the second renovation break, Quality Road went his first three furlongs in 36.93 seconds and his last three furlongs in 35.10 seconds as exercise rider Juan Moreno nudged on him only slightly outside the eighth pole. Quality Road galloped out seven furlongs in 1:25.55.

\"He let him out at the end; still, it didn\'t look like he went in 1:12,\" said trainer Jimmy Jerkens, who caught him almost a second slower.

Quality Road suffered his quarter crack while winning the Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on March 28. Nine days later, Quality Road showed some blood coming from the quarter crack after a routine gallop at Belmont. But after receiving a new patch on April 8, Quality Road has not missed a beat in his training, working a half-mile in 48 seconds on April 10 leading up to Friday\'s drill.

\"He lost a few pounds after the Florida Derby,\" Jerkens said. \"I wanted to get that back on him. Losing a few pounds and having the quarter crack I was a little worried, but it looks like he put some flesh back on and the foot looks like it\'s in good shape, so we should be in good shape.\"

Jerkens said Quality Road would likely work once more at Belmont next weekend before shipping to Churchill Downs on April 28.

Joe B.

Levine, who is 29-for-59 overall at MTH, has the following stats on turf this meet:

6 starts
2 wins (both in stks races)
1 second
1 third

** started 2 horses in one of the stakes where he also had the race winner, so make it 2 winners from 5 races...

Sightseeing stayed on his correct lead all the way to the wire.  From my view, he got a real good closers trip - inside/out - and had dead aim on Nobiz from outside the 1/8-pole.  He just didnt finish it off.  

I don\'t think I\'d call Nobiz finding \"another gear\"; I\'d go with Miff & say Sightseeing hung at the end...

shanahan Wrote:
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> The one mile run at OAK is a bitch and it\'s
> basically a jockeys race.  I think Hard Spun,
> knowing a win was out of the quesiton at the turn,
> just let it go...anxious to see the replay.


Shanahan,

You\'ll have to draw your own conclusions, obviously, but Hard Spun tried hard to get into the race thru the 2nd turn; he didnt get close & was very tired thru the stretch.  Being 4-wide all the way prob\'ly didnt help, but this wasn\'t a good performance from a horse getting this amount of hype, IMO.

As an aside, trainer Jones threw in the obligatory \"he didn\'t handle the track\" excuse after the race.  As of now, there\'ll be a tie-breaker with the winner in the Rebel, 3/17...

Thehoarsehorseplayer Wrote:
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>
> On the other hand, do you think it\'s possible that
> the Racing Form will have a graphic in place by
> the end of the Saratoga meet which indicates
> whether the five and a half furlong turf races are
> being run on the Mellon or Inner Turf?
> It seems like it might have some relevancy to the
> bettor.
>

They don\'t run 5-1/2f races on the inner, so you can stop wondering about that one.  They\'re all on the \"Mellon.\"

On another note, pondering the whole \"drug\" thing, anyone notice how badly the Asmussen/Blasi 1st-time-starters are performing since the suspension began?  Blasi is still wacking about 20% overall, but after today\'s 4th at Saratoga, their firsters are now 1-for-26 since he took over.  This from a barn that had seemed like TAP\'s equal (at least) in that category.  Lone winner in that stretch, the $2mil FuPeg filly who goes in the Spa Gr1 this weekend.

marcus Wrote:
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> the ruling should be contested , the penalties
> seem out of balance with recent rulings handed
> down for comprable drug violations . i don\'t
> understand how the drug would be useful for
> players and horsemen - wouldn\'t that type of
> medication have it\'s best value when a horse is
> shipping and not when racing ? .
>
>  basically the ruling artificially boosts public
> relations and profile for an already troubled and
> beleaugered racing industry , and thats about all
> -  as was the case w/ the ny trainer who just got
> nailed for pain killers that he had borrowed for a
> back problem ...
>
> i don\'t want come off as one of these \" jerimiah \"
> or \" jesse jackson \" types but , the level
> arrogence and complacentcy involved in the
> asmussen ruling is not only failing to serve
> racing\'s ( or anyones ) best interest - it\'s
> counter productive  ...        
>

It\'s not up to any of us to worry about whether or not this kind of suspension and the resulting media coverage is \"just another black-eye for racing\".  Racing has plenty of troubles, most of them of the industry\'s own making.  The bottom line is this trainer has had plenty of run-ins with the testing labs and now is being made to pay up-I think rightly so.  Maybe the 2 cases pending now are the result of honest mix-ups and/or bad luck, but there could be far more troubling things associated with both cases.  The head of the La. state testing lab had this to say re: the Mepivacaine positive:

--Dr. Steven Barker, head of the state testing laboratory at LSU, said the level of the drug in No End in Sight was \"quite high.\"

\"It was consistent with a race-day administration of a therapeutic dose,\" Barker said. He also said that mepivacaine \"is used diagnostically and also used therapeutically. The reason it\'s Category II is it can be used as a nerve block.\"--

That\'s not good for racing. And if they currently don\'t have the testing capability to find the \"magic bullet\" (thanks Miff) the least they can do is stop these guys from abusing the stuff they can test for.